Science

Why study science?

Science helps us to use ideas and investigations to solve problems. We question and try to understand things that we may see or can affect us. Science gives us the opportunity to find out information, test ideas, seek explanations, and develop an understanding of the world.

1. Museum of Science, Boston, Massachusetts

2. Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, Illinois

3. Exploratorium, San Francisco, California

4. New York Hall of Science, Flushing, New York

5. Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

6. Pacific Science Center, Seattle, Washington

7. Center of Science and Industry, Columbus, Ohio

8. Children's Museum of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana

9. Smithsonian, Washington, DC

10. Carnegie Science Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

11. St. Louis Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri

12. California Science Center, Los Angeles, California

13. Houston Museum of Natural Science, Houston, Texas

14. Denver Museum of Nature and Science, Denver, Colorado

15. Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota

16. Field Museum, Chicago, Illinois

17. American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York

18. Orlando Science Center, Orlando, Florida

19. California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, California

20. Cranbrook Institute of Science, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

21. Kentucky Science Center, Louisville, Kentucky

22. Liberty Science Center, Jersey City, New Jersey

23. Bradbury Science Museum, Los Alamos, New Mexico

24. Discovery Place, Charlotte, North Carolina

25. Maryland Science Center, Baltimore, Maryland

26. North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh, North Carolina

27. Museum of Life and Science, Durham, North Carolina

28. Fernbank Museum of Natural History, Atlanta, Georgia

29. Science Museum of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia

30. Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Portland, Oregon

Oxygen is important for us to live. It is found in the air we breathe and the water we drink. Oxygen is a colorless gas that makes up 21% of Earth's atmosphere. Oxygen is the most common element in the Earth's crust. Oxygen is the third most common element in the Universe after hydrogen and helium. Oxygen is element number 8 on the Periodic Table of the Elements.

A crystal is a solid where the molecules connect together in a repeating pattern. Crystals are often formed when magma or liquid rock cools and hardens. Quartz is a common crystal that comes in different colors like white, yellow, or purple, which is known as amethyst.

A magnifying glass uses convex shaped lens to make objects appear larger. As the lens is placed close to the object to be viewed, the light rays are bent toward the center of the lens. When these bent rays reach the eye, they make the object appear bigger than it actually is.

Bacteria are very small organisms that are everywhere around us. You need a microscope to see them, but they are in the air, on our skin, in our bodies, and in the ground. Bacteria live in soil, water, hot springs, radioactive waste, and the deep parts of oceans and the Earth's crust. Bacteria have even survived in space on a spacecraft with people.

Drag is resistance to motion through a gas or liquid. Aircraft moving through air and boats moving through water are slowed down by drag. The faster an object tries to move, the more drag it experiences.

Chromosomes are structures in the nucleus of animal and plant cells that contain genetic information. Chromosomes are made of DNA and proteins. DNA is passed from parents to offspring and contains the specific instructions that make each type of living organism unique.

Energy is what makes things happend in the world. Heat, motion, electricity, light, and sound are forms of energy. Energy can change from one form to another. For example, a steam engine changes heat into motion.

A battery is a device that uses a chemical reaction to make electricity. Batteries give power to toys, flashlights, cell phones, laptops, and other equipment. A battery stores chemical energy until it is needed. When the battery is used, chemical energy is changed into electric energy.

A constellation is a group of stars which form a pattern in the night sky when viewed from Earth. There are over 80 constellations and they have been named after animals, myths, people, or objects. Some are hard to see depending on the time of year and location from Earth.

Lightning is cause by static electricity. The negative charge in a thundercloud creates a positive charge in the ground below the cloud. If the attraction between the negative and positive charges is strong enough, a giant spark jumps between them producing a hot lightning bolt.

Many previous scientists have done important science experiments that are famous and have made a difference in the world. Here are 10 famous scientists who pushed the world of science forward:

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) is famous for his ideas, theories, and equations in physics such as the theory of relativity, the discovery of the photoelectric effect, and the equation E = mc2 showing that energy and mass are interchangeable.
Isaac Newton (1643-1727) is famous for his contributions in physics such as being the founder of the theory of gravitation and the discovery of the laws of motion.
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) is famous for his contributions in astronomy such as improving the telescope and proving that the earth revolves around the sun.
Thomas Edison (1847-1931) was one of the greatest inventors in history with more than 1000 inventions. Some of his famous inventions are the incandescent light bulb, phonograph, motion picture camera, carbon microphone, and nickel-iron batteries.
Charles Darwin (1809-1882) was an important biologist for his theories of evolution and natural selection.
Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) was an important physicist and inventor known for his contributions in the field of electricity and magnetism particularly for his invention of the alternating current induction motor.
Max Planck (1858-1947) was an important physicist considered to be the founder of quantum theory. He discovered that energy came in small bundles he named quanta.
James Maxwell (1831-1879) was an important physicist who was the first to prove the link between electricity, magnetism, and light. He brought together a large number of equations, experiments, and observations related to electricity and magnetism into a theory. He also made contributions in color analysis and created the first true color photograph.
Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) contributed greatly towards advancements in medicine and is credited with saving more lives than any other person from his discoveries. He developed cures for rabies, anthrax, and other infectious diseases and developed the process of pasteurization.
Michael Faraday (1791-1867) was an important physicist whose discoveries in electricity and magnetism resulted in him building the first electric motor and the first generator and transformer.

Science Applications

Understand nature and the role you play in nature
Understand the role science plays in society
Learn about biology, chemistry, physics, and technology
Investigate and test scientific ideas and explanations
Develop skills to plan and conduct investigations, gather information, and evaluate findings
Develop confidence, knowledge, and skills to find answers to questions
Find solutions to problems
Appreciate the contributions and achievements of scientists and that scientific knowledge has been developed over time by scientists from around the world
Learn that the scientific understanding is constantly changing due to continuing research and new technology
Understand how science influences many parts of your life like technology, energy, food, health, medicine, transportation, and activities.

Ways to learn science in everyday life:

Ask questions and search for answers

Do experiments and test things

Practice science skills like observing, reasoning, and predicting

Keep a science research notebook to write about what you learn and discover

Find out what is known about a science topic online or in books

Questions to inspire scientific curiosity:

What do I think and why?
How does it work?
What is the cause?
What would happen if…?
How might I test it to see if it’s true?

Science topics:

Chemistry helps you understand what substances are made of and how they interact. Chemistry is used to make medicine and electronics, to grow crops for food, and to cook.

Some important chemistry topics:

acids and bases
atoms
chemical reactions
states of matter (solids, liquids, and gases)
mixtures
solutions

Biology helps you understand living things. Biology is used to take care of health and for organisms to function and survive.

Some important biology topics:

animals
plants
microorganisms
the human body
cells
evolution
disease and infections
genes

Physics helps you understand matter. Physics is used in technology and medicine.

Some important physics topics:

electricity
work
energy
motion
force and gravity
waves and sound
temperature
pressure
light

Environmental Science helps us understand our surroundings including air, water, soil, plants, and animals that make it up. Environmental science is used in growing crops and taking care of the environment.

Some important environmental science topics:

water cycle
food chains
ecosystems
pollution
climate and weather
renewable energy
recycling

Question: Will cardboard, plastic, styrofoam, or aluminum foil placed between 2 magnets stop them from attracting to each other?

Experiment: Put each material between two magnets to test whether the magnets are still pulled together.

Conclusions: Cardboard, plastic, styrofoam, and aluminum foil did not stop the magnets from attracting to each other. A magnetic field can pass through non-magnetic materials like cardboard, plastic, styrofoam, and aluminum foil.

Question: Is a dark shirt or a light shirt warmer in sunlight?

Experiment: Wrap a thermometer in a black t-shirt and wrap another thermometer in a white t-shirt. Place the shirts in sunlight. After 20 minutes, open the shirts and read the thermometer.

Conclusions: A dark shirt is warmer than a light shirt in sunlight. Temperatures are affected by color. Black colored clothes absorb all of the colors from the light spectrum, while white reflects all of the colors of the light spectrum.

Question: When throwing a ball, will a light ball or heavy ball go farther?

Experiment: Throw a plastic ball (light ball) from a point. Now throw a basketball (heavy ball) from the same point. Check which ball is farther away.

Conclusions: The light ball went farther. When the force on two objects is the same, the lighter object goes farther than the heavier object because it has less mass. Mass is the amount of material in an object. The heavier object has more mass which slows down the rate of motion.

Question: Will adding more borax make slime thicker?

Experiment: In a plastic cup, add 1 tablespoon of warm water and mix in ¼ teaspoon of borax to make the borax solution. In another cup make the glue solution by mixing 1 tablespoon of water and 1 tablespoon of Elmer's or PVA glue. Slowly pour all of the borax solution into the glue solution, and stir. Now repeat this recipe with new cups except use 1 teaspoon of borax instead of ¼ so that this will be your higher concentration of borax to compare to the lower concentration of borax you just made.

Conclusions: More borax made slime thicker. Borax is a slime activator that contains borate ions. Glue is a polymer and is made of long repeating identical molecules that flow past one another keeping the glue in a liquid state. When borate ions mix with glue, it starts to connect these long molecules together. They crosslink as they tangle and mix until the substance is less like the liquid you started with. It has formed into a thick stretchy substance instead. The more concentrated the borax, the thicker and drier the slime. The lower the concentration of borax, the thinner and wetter the slime.

Question: Does detergent help to remove soil from clothes?

Experiment: Put a shirt with soil on it in a bucket with water only and put another shirt with soil on it in a bucket with water and detergent mixture.

Conclusions: Water alone will not remove the soil because the oil and grease in soil repel the water molecules. Detergent does help to remove soil. The detergent creates opposing forces of attracting and repelling water that loosens the soil and suspends it in the water.

Question: Does yeast affect decay of fruit?

Experiment: Put 2 banana slices in separate containers and sprinkle one banana with dry active yeast. Cover the containers and put in a warm, dark place. Compare the bananas after 3 days.

Conclusions: The banana with yeast decayed faster than the banana without yeast. The banana with yeast had more signs of decay like more softening, runniness, and brown color. Yeast breaks down sugars and starches in plant material and speeds up the decay process. In nature, yeast is often found in plant leaves, fruit, and soil.

Question: What happens when one marble is pushed to a line of marbles?

Experiment: Line up 5 marbles so that they touch each other. Push another marble towards the first marble in the line.

Conclusions: The marble you pushed collided with the first marble in the line and only the marble at the end of the line rolled away and none of the other marbles moved. Kinetic energy is the energy of a moving object. The kinetic energy from the marble that hit the line of marbles was transferred through all of the marbles to the last one.

Question: What happens when you add ice cubes to boiling water?

Experiment: Put water in a pot on a stove and bring it to a boil. Then add 5 ice cubes to the pot.

Conclusions: The boiling stopped when the ice cubes were added to the boiling water. Heat moves from a warm to cold area. In this case, heat from the burner stopped making the hot water boil and moved to making the ice melt because the ice cubes were the coldest objects in the pot. When the ice melted, the water started to boil again.

Question: Will a plant grow up toward the sun if it is tilted?

Experiment: Place 2 potted plants in a sunny location. Put one plant on its side and another upright. Water the plants each day.

Conclusions: The plant that was placed on its side grew upward. Plants know which is is up and begin growing in that direction. A plant will adjust the direction of growth in order to find up toward the sun.

Question: Does land or water get warm faster?

Experiment: Fill one cup with water and another cup with dirt. Place the cups in the freezer for 10 minutes. Take out and place a thermometer in each cup to find their temperatures. Place the cups in the sun for 15 minutes. Find the temperature of each.

Conclusions: The cup of dirt was warmer than the cup of water after placing in the sun. Sunlight warms land faster than water. On a hot day, the sand on a beach is much warmer than the water in the ocean. When you dig in the sand on a beach, the top level of sand is warmer than the sand below it.